(Augusta, ME) The Maine Arts Commission is seeking qualified applicants for the position of Executive Director. The successful candidate will be responsible for the strategic planning, direction, management, implementation, and evaluation of all agency operations, programs and services. The deadline for applications is January 20, 2012.

Candidates must possess a Bachelor’s degree in nonprofit management, arts administration, business administration or public administration, or a closely related field. They should also have ten years experience in a progressive senior management position managing an agency division or department, including staffing, budget development and administration. Preference will be given to candidates with a Master’s degree.

Full details of this opportunity are available through the Division of Financial and Personnel Services website. Please click here to access their Career Opportunities main page.

(Image: "Lily Vase" by Adria Moynihan)

(Portland, ME) Adria Moynihan, a native of Maine and part of the artists' collective at Running with Scissors Gallery, opens her show, “Inside Stories,” on Friday, December 9th, from 5:00 to 8:00 pm at the studios at 54 Cove Street, off Marginal Way in Portland's Back Bay. The exhibit runs through December 24th.

“I delight in the opportunity to render ordinary subjects - faces, flowers, and beloved animals - with a license to give them a story of their own, to spotlight their unique personalities,” says Moynihan of the new work.

After graduating in fine arts from Oregon's Portland State University and painting there for 6 years, Adria Moynihan has returned to the east coast to bring her art home. Moynihan's shows in Oregon focused on portraits in oil, reflecting her early studies in figure drawing at Alfred University in upstate New York. Her later work, including her upcoming show, broadens her reach into color to include still lifes, where rich purples and cadmiums burst from the canvas. Her upcoming show reaches deep into the natural beauty around her to bring the richness found in quiet moments to canvas. Moynihan also offers private and small group lessons for teens and adults.

To see more of Adria's work, please visit www.adriamoynihan.com.

(Image of Robert Freson by Troy R. Bennett/The Times Record)

(Brunswick, ME) The event includes a film, exhibit, and discussion on Saturday, December 10 at 7:00 pm. This event is free.

In Robert's words:
“I am very happy and grateful to have some of my photojournalist work exposed at Frontier. I am honored to have been asked to exhibit a few photographs in the very pleasant and bohemian atmosphere of the Gallery which graciously dedicates its space to local and international artists and movie makers.

We spent quite a lot of time together earlier this year selecting small segments of a great variety of assignments done all over the world. They were done over the last 60 years for Magazines such as LOOK, Vogue, Esquire, The Ladies Home Journal, National Geographic Magazine and books, etc. in the USA, The London Sunday Times and the Weekend Telegraphs magazines in England, Match and Marie-Claire in France, Stern in Germany, and Epoca in Italy.

My career, which covers mostly the last half of the 20th.Century, gave me the opportunity to witness some major events and to photograph many personalities. I kept all the reproducing rights to an awful lot of photographs which are carefully stored and cataloged in my residence in Maine.

At the same time of this opening we are planning to have a screening of a 'documentary' on some aspect of my career assembled in cooperation with Steve Phillips, a very good Maine videographer. I plan to be there to introduce it and be happy to answer any questions.

The original purpose of this film was, and still is, to introduce myself to suitable institutions such as colleges, museums and/or other centers for archival photography which would be capable and willing to take the responsibility to preserve these documents.

Looking forward to this project.”

For more information, please visit the Frontier Cafe and Gallery website or call 207-725-5222.

(Belfast, ME) The December concerts of the Penobscot Bay Singers will feature works written in 2000 and songs Queen Elizabeth the First might have known. This broad range of pieces is unified by both the themes of advent and the mysteries and joys of the dark of the year.

Joel Martinson's arrangement based on Gustav Holst's "Cranham", of the poem by Christin Rosetti, "In the Bleak Midwinter" describes the cold aspect of the season, while "Tomorrow shall Be My Dancing Day", a traditional English carol arranged by David Willcocks evokes the festivities common to the winter solstice . Longer works with traditional Advent themes will include "Qui Creavit Coleum", by Roland E. Martin, Daniel Gawthorp's "O Come, Emmanuel" with text by Madeline L'Engle (yes, she wrote A Wrinkle in Time and other books much loved by middle-schoolers!) and Pachelbel's "Magnificat in D". Another well-known poem, "The Lamb" by William Blake, in a modern musical setting by John Tavener redefines close harmony with exquisite subtle sweetness, while Elizabeth Poston's "Jesus Christ, the Apple Tree", though written in 1967 is reminiscent of old New England hymns. And yes, there will be opportunity for all to join in on favorite carols.

The concert schedule is:
Saturday, December 10th at 7:30 pm in the First Church in Belfast
Sunday, December 11th at 3:00 pm at St. Francis on Court Street in Belfast

No tickets are required, however a $12 donation would be welcomed.

The Penobscot Bay Singers are directed by Richard M. Dostie and accompanied by Linnea Johnson. The Belfast -based chorus draws singers from all corners of Waldo County and beyond. Now in its 39th season, the group will offer two concerts featuring choral works by American composers on March 31st and April 1st in 2012 and the ever-popular pop concerts on June 8th and 9th. PBS is a 501(c)(3) organization which depends on donations from supporters as much as concert contributions and member dues. Anyone wishing to contribute, sing, sponsor a work, an instrumental accompaniment or an entire concert should write to Penobscot Bay Singers, P.O. Box 5, Belfast, Maine 04915.